Land of the Giants - Battlebots!
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: Astro crash lands an experimental space ship on an alien world inhabited by giant humans, and must compete in a robot arena.
1. Chapter 1

**Land of the Giants – Battle Bots**

1.

 **Atom** sat in the cockpit of the experimental deep space transport. So far his mission had been rather boring as the computerized robot ship had been performing perfectly. The Spindrift was the Ministry of Science's latest development, and Professor Ochanomizu was optimistic that the craft would enable the exploration of the outer regions of the solar system.

" _Day eight, and I'm already beyond the orbit of Neptune,_ " Atom dictated into the ship's log. " _My speed has already passed twenty percent of C, and is still increasing. With any luck I'll reach the edge of the Oort cloud soon, and then the Heliopause after that._ "

The boy robot closed the log recorder and busied himself with scanning his instruments again. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he'd noticed one of the indicators twitching into the yellow zone, but at the moment all of the system readouts were now in the green. It must have been a glitch, but that worried him.

Atom turned on the telescopic view port and swung the field of view in a 360 degree arc around his ship. Except for the stars glowing brightly against the backdrop of space, there was nothing unusual to observe. One hundred eighty degrees behind him, the telescope picked up the dim image of a blue green dot against the inky blackness. Atom sighed as he stared at the tiny, almost invisible dot that he knew was his home, the Earth.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Atom quickly spotted the readout that was now glowing red, the same one that he had seen subliminally minutes ago blinking yellow. It was the gravity field indicator, and it was giving a clear warning that the ship was caught in a very strong gravitational pull. Right ahead of him, filling his view screen the very fabric of space seemed to be shimmering like the air above a hot asphalt road during the hottest part of a summer day.

"What's going on?" Atom asked himself. He debated going EVA to get a better look, but the ship lurched forward like a fishing floater bob, after the bait had been swallowed hook, line, and sinker by a whale. His computer brain had already analyzed the available information now quickly scrolling down the main computer monitor screen, and he had a good idea what had suddenly grabbed hold of the Spindrift. Atom quickly entered a course change directive into the navigational computer and activated the change. The ship bucked like a bronco as the hyper drive shifted into full power.

He made another entry into the ship's log, and transmitted his status back to the Ministry, though he knew it would be many hours before the radio transmission would be picked up. " _All the instruments have suddenly gone bananas,"_ Atom spoke into the microphone. _"It seems that the ship has entered the sphere of influence of a mini black hole that is orbiting the outer regions of the Oort cloud. I haven't been able to break free of its gravity, though I'm hoping I can sling shot the ship around it._ "

The distortion in the view screen increased as the ship accelerated. Atom felt the G forces building, and he was squashed down into his seat, unable to move. Being a robot he didn't black out from the gigantic weight that his body felt pressing down on him, but he couldn't move either. The ship began to spin as its momentum flung it in a tight arc around the invisible body that had tried to suck it into the well created in the space-time by its incredible mass. It seemed like an eternity, but eventually the G forces began to ebb, and the space in front of the ship began to take on its proper appearance once again. Most of the ship's power systems were now off line, in executing the high power maneuver to escape from the black hole, he had used up almost all of the ship's fuel, and had damaged a few critical systems.

Atom, now able to move, took a look around his craft with the telescopic scanner. None of the constellations of stars looked familiar to him, it was as if the ship had been thrown many light years from its previous position into another region of the galaxy, or even another galaxy! Directly ahead of him was a blue green planet. Except for the fact that the various land masses looked nothing like the shapes of Earth's major continents, the planet could have been a twin of the one he'd left a bit over a week ago.

The Spindrift was being pulled into orbit around the world, and there was nothing that Atom could do to prevent that. He hoped that if he could somehow make a soft landing, he might be able to effect repairs, that is if he could locate a source of the rare elements that served as fuel for the hyper drive.

* * *

 **Elvis Costello** flinched from the pain inflicted on his digit from the tip of the hot soldering iron. "OUCH!" he yelled, dropping the tool and sticking his finger into his mouth to cool the skin, which had already started to blister. "Damn it!", he yelled, "this bot is cursed!"

Dick Murphy tried to suppress a burst of laughter, but still released a bit of a cackle. "Sorry Elvis," he smirked, "Looks like you'll never get that stomper working. I told you that a tank bot was the way to go."

"Ugh!", the younger man grimaced. "Tanks have no personality. I'm going to get this humanoid walker going if it kills me. It may not have the mass of your heavy beast, but it will be much more maneuverable."

"And defenseless," Murphy added. "Battle bots have to inflict damage to win, they can't just keep getting out of harms way."

"I've got some secret weapons under development that nobody knows about yet," Costello countered. "If I could only finish the computer systems without soldering myself!"

Dick moved in closer to get a better view of the small circuit board that his friend was trying to build. "That thing is too tiny, how can you see what you're doing?"

"With great difficulty," Elvis agreed, as he removed the magnifier glasses from his face.

* * *

 **The** hull of the Spindrift glowed a dull orange color as it fell through the upper atmosphere of the planet. Atom was now close enough to the surface to make out details on the major land masses. He could clearly identify what looked like towns and cities, this world was clearly inhabited by an intelligent civilization quite similar to the Earth. With that in mind, he tried to control the ship's re-entry flight pattern to land outside of any major city, he didn't want to be discovered by the inhabitants until he was sure they weren't hostile. As he got closer to the ground he became aware of the matter of scale, the structures on the ground were huge compared to those on the Earth, he quickly realized that the beings inhabiting this world would be much larger than Earth humans.

The ship was now bouncing around violently as it hit the denser parts of the atmosphere. Without power, he would have to glide in, with no opportunity to make a second pass if he chose a bad landing site. Atom now rapidly scanned the ground below, looking for a suitable spot to attempt to safely set the Spindrift down. The controls were sluggish and heavy, he realized that he'd have to plan each maneuverer long in advance, an almost impossible task. At the last possible moment, Atom spotted a clearing in the middle of what looked like a sparsely populated area. He attempted to make a final course change to reach it, but the ship responded like a giant ocean liner to his inputs, making the turn much too slowly as it rapidly lost altitude. Suddenly the roof of a large building filled his view screen, and and Atommade a last second maneuver to attempt to bleed off some speed. He was able to apply aerodynamic braking, while using the very last drops of available fuel to fire the reverse thrusters. He braced himself for impact microseconds before the Spindrift crashed through the roof of the building. If this had been an Earth structure the ship would have smashed through to the basement, but as this world seemed to exist on a larger scale than the Earth, the roof was thicker and more massive. Atom was thrown out of his seat in the cockpit, and smashed against a bulkhead. The force of the impact knocked his systems off-line and he lay unconscious in a heap by the cockpit door that had been torn off its hinges by the force of the impact.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

 **Elvis** awoke from a troubled sleep from what sounded like a thunderclap. The entire house shook from an impact that seemed to come from directly over his bed. Elvis looked up at the ceiling and saw paddle fan above him now swinging slowly back and forth on its mounting. There was a new crack in the wall where it met the ceiling. "Something crashed into the roof," he thought.

Costello got out of bed and grabbed a flashlight. Still wearing his pajamas, he walked into the hallway. He grabbed a chair from the dining room and placed it under the ceiling access hatchway for the attic crawlspace. The young man stood on the chair and pushed the panel open. He held the flashlight in his mouth as he pulled himself up into the ceiling, grabbing onto a joist beam next to the opening. Once inside, he scanned the torch about looking for the source of the jolt. The beam of his flashlight fell on a section of the roof which now sported a small hole in it. Lying below the new roof opening, on the floor of the space, sitting on a pile of fiberglass insulation, was a strange object. It looked like a model spacecraft, and it was visibly hot, still smoking, and scorched.

What the hell?", Elvis, muttered as the beam of his flashlight illuminated the spacecraft that sat embedded into the fiberglass matting thermal insulation lining the attic crawlspace. The thing was a good size, its width barely fit between the 18 inch spacing between the roof rafters, and was about twice that in length. Still, it looked like it would barely fit though the attic hatchway with care, if he could reach it.

Carefully he crawled towards the object, taking care to keep his weight on the ceiling joists, and not on the sheet rock panels that made up the ceiling of the room underneath him. He tried to touch the miniature ship, but it was still very warm to the touch, too hot to handle. Thinking quickly, he pulled up a wad of the R16 insulation lining the ceiling and using it as a thermal insulated mitt, was then able to grasp the object. Costello slowly reversed his motion and soon found himself back at the opening where he had entered the attic.

Elvis lowered himself down to stand on the chair, and then reached up into the hatchway to retrieve his find. It took him some effort to slide the object though the hatchway, it must have weighed a good 50 pounds. He closed the hatchway, and then dragged the miniature space craft downstairs towards his workshop in his basement 'man cave'.

Once he was downstairs, the young man carefully examined the strange object. He placed it on a work cart, under an illuminated magnifier to get a better look. Under the lens, he could see that the thing wasn't a toy, it was too well made, and was highly detailed. The surface of the thing was covered with burn marks as if it had re-entered the atmosphere at a high rate of speed from orbit.

He moved the magnifier around the object, examining it carefully. There was clearly an access panel to the inside of the craft, but he could not find an obvious way to get it opened. Elvis got a higher powered eye loupe from his tool box and made a more careful inspection of the area. There appeared to be a locking mechanism on the door, it probably required a special key to open it from the outside. Elvis selected a high speed tungsten steel drill bit from his toolbox and chucked it into his power drill. He plugged the tool into the power socket, and started to drill out the lock. Sparks flew as the bit dug into the mechanism. It was difficult going, the material seemed to be quite hardened, maybe to stand up to the rigors of space flight. The drill bit finally burned out, its sharp cutting surfaces now dulled and useless. Elvis selected another bit from the his collection and replaced the damaged one with it in the drill. He continued drilling, this time putting a few drops of cutting oil on the site to prevent the bit from over heating. After a few more minutes, he felt the bit break through the lock. He then used the tip of a common screwdriver to pry the hatch open.

Elvis carefully stuck his hand into the craft, feeling about the inside. His thumb brushed against a live wire, and he quickly yanked his hand violently out of the interior. "OUCH!" he grimaced in pain. The live wire had brushed against the blister he'd raised a few hours ago with the soldering iron. "OK, let's take a look inside first," he thought. He rummaged through his toolbox and came up with his illuminated flexible fiber optic inspection scope. Elvis pushed the business end of the device into the open hatchway with the viewer held against his right eye.

The inside of the ship was a mess, bulkheads had buckled and bent, panels had popped loose from their mountings, wires and tubing hung from the ceiling. As he twisted the inspection tool towards the front of the ship he spotted the open door to the cockpit, through which he thought he saw the body of a small humanoid pilot lying on the floor in front of it.

Elvis suddenly realized that the craft might be an alien ship from outer space. He hadn't expected to find an occupant inside, he'd thought the craft was surely either someone's remote controlled drone, or an experimental autonomous ship built by the military.

Guided by the inspection scope, he once again carefully inserted his hand into the ship, He pushed his arm towards the cockpit door and gently picked up the pilot. Elvis' face turned a ghostly white, the pilot's body felt cold and limp. "He's dead!", the young man gasped to himself as he pulled the small body from the ship's interior. He carefully extracted the pilot and placed the limp body on the soft seat cushion of an arm chair he kept in the 'man cave' in front of his large screen TV. He pushed the chair closer to the workbench and swung the arm of the illuminated magnifier over it to get a better look at the pilot.

The being Elvis had just extracted from the damaged spacecraft was humanoid looking, about three quarters of a foot high. It was wearing a silver flight suit, consisting of a vest and a matching pair of trousers, the legs of which were tucked into a pair of almost knee high red boots. The pilot had dark hair that featured two spiky cowlicks, and a large widow's peak like tuft of hair in the middle of his forehead.

Elvis carefully opened the vest of the flight suit, and gently removed it to get a better look at the pilot's body, to look for injuries. He then noticed the outline of what looked like a panel in the beings' chest. He poked at it carefully with the point of a pair of tweezers, and managed to pop it open. "Hey, this thing is a robot!" Elvis realized. "Maybe I can repair it."

He picked up the doll like creature and placed it on his workbench under the inspection microscope that he used to work on micro circuits. Guided by binocular vision he probed inside the robot's body. "Wow, this thing is complex!," Elvis muttered to himself. He located what looked like test points, and carefully probed them with a voltmeter, and then his digital oscilloscope. There seemed to be some activity on a few of the test points, it looked like the robot wasn't completely inert after all. "Maybe it just needs a jolt of power," he thought. After some more visual inspection, he located what looked like a power socket, clearly labeled with '+' and '-' terminals. Elvis rigged up two heavy wires to connect to the socket, and connected them to a variable voltage supply.

"OK, here it goes," he said, crossing his fingers as he turned on the supply and slowly increased the voltage.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Atom** blinked and slowly opened his eyes. He squinted as the bright light of the microscope's illuminated stage hit him squarely in the face. He then noticed the giant person, dressed in what looked like pajamas, smiling at him.

"It worked!" Elvis exclaimed with glee. "Are you OK?" he asked. "Do you understand me?"

Atom groaned as he tried to sit up, but he was stuck in place, pinned under the business end of the microscope, and by the wires sticking out of his chest. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in the basement of my house, on the planet Terra-Prime. I found you inside of that spacecraft," he said, pointing to the other end of the workshop. "I still can't believe I'm talking to a robot. I'm in a club that builds robots, but they're mostly remote controlled. Nobody I know has ever built something that is self aware and can talk! We did you come from?"

"I come from a planet we call Earth," Atom said, "which is strange because in one of my world's languages, Terra means Earth."

"But you're so much smaller than us," Elvis puzzled.

"I think things just evolved on a larger scale on your planet," Atom guessed. "As I approached for a landing I was able to observe the surface of this planet, and while it looked a lot like Earth, everything was nearly an order of magnitude larger."

Atom struggled to free himself from the microscope base where he was still strapped in. "Would you mind releasing me from here?," he asked.

"If you promise not try to run away, or over power me." Elvis said.

"I won't," Atom laughed. "Besides, I going to need your help to repair my ship so I can get back to Earth."

"Sure," Elvis said. He raised the objective head of the microscope, and then carefully removed the wires from Atom's recharge socket and gently closed his chest panel.

Atom crawled out from under the instrument and finally managed to sit up. He walked along the edge of the workbench, and looked around. Standing up in the corner, attached to a support frame was a crude looking humanoid robot about his size.

"That's the battle bot I was building for competition in the robot arena," Elvis told him. It's not finished yet, in fact I've had a lot of problems trying to build an electronic brain small enough to fit inside and yet powerful enough to control its systems. I also haven't yet been able to miniaturize my weapons systems to fit inside it either. I was going to name him Atlas."

"You guys have robots fight each other?" Atom asked. "That's primitive."

"Well they're really remote controlled robots," Elvis explained, picking up the remote transmitter he had on the workbench. "Here, I'll show you."

He turned on the flat screen TV hanging on the wall of the workshop and inserted a tape into his video player. The recording started to play, and Atom watched as several different crude robots began to attack each other. They were mostly tank like machines, riding on wheels or treads, and they sported weapons such as hammers, flame throwers, or power saws. The robots were controlled by humans holding remote transmitters, standing behind a glass wall surrounding the combat area.

"My best friend Dick Murphy won on that show several times with a tank 'bot that he's built," Elvis said. "I don't like those tanks, they have no class. I've been trying to build a stomper, a robot that walks on two legs. Stompers are more agile than tanks, they can get out of the way quickly, but they usually don't have heavy enough fire power to destroy the heavy armor that the tank bots can carry."

Atom shifted his gaze between the video screen and the battle bot that Elvis was building. He walked towards Elvis' creation and carefully examined it. Its outer shell was slightly larger than his own body, and would easily fit over him like a suit of armor.

"You really want to win at this, don't you?" Atom asked.

"I've been building battle 'bots for over five years now," Elvis sighed. "And none of them ever even made it past the first elimination rounds."

"How much horsepower do these combat robot's have?" Atom asked.

"Horsepower?" Elvis asked.

"I guess your world uses different standards," Atom said, shrugging his shoulders. "Well how about Watts? That's a measure of electrical power equal to one volt at one ampere of current. Here, I'll write down the definitions of those units in their basic terms." He picked up a pencil stub from the workbench and started to scribble on a scrap of paper.

Elvis looked at the equations that Atom had put down on paper. "Yes, we use similar measurements on this world," he said. "I guess most of those combat robots top out at less than 1000 of your watts."

"That's less than two horsepower." Atom smiled.

"So what's your power level?" Elvis asked.

"A bit more than that." Atom voiced.

"How much?" Elvis asked, his interest peaked.

"A lot more than that," Atom hedged.

"Tell me!" Elvis demanded.

"All right! 75 mega watts!", Atom finally admitted.

Elvis's jaw dropped, and it seemed like he was salivating. "Would you be willing to ..., " Elvis stammered.

The idea had already crossed Atom's mind. He didn't exactly like the idea, but if the favor would get Elvis motivated enough to help him repair the Spindrift, he'd do it. "You want me to wear that robot shell as a sort of costume and pretend to be your battle bot, don't you?" he asked.

"Would you mind?" Elvis asked, "PLEASE" he added, folding his hands together in a begging posture.

"I have a few conditions," Atom answered.

"What do you want?", Elvis voiced.

"First of all, you will help me repair my ship. You may have to search for some rare and possibly expensive materials," he answered.

"Sure, I can do that," Elvis answered. "Maybe, if we can win a few matches in the Battle Bot arena, I'll get enough in prize money to purchase what ever we'll need to repair your spacecraft."

"Fine," Atom smiled. "Second, don't use the name Atlas when you enter us in the contest, I have a problem with that name!"

"OK, what name should I use?"

"Well my name is Atom, but I'm sometimes called Astro Boy by the news media back home," Atom replied. "You see, I'm considered a sort of superhero back on Earth because I'm a bit of a crime fighter and rescue robot."

"Astro Boy," Elvis muttered out loud, trying out the name. "I like that! OK, anything else?"

"Well, we'll have to figure out how to fake out this remote control thing."

"Yes, I already realized that," Elvis agreed. "The battle bots are all remote controlled, though many do have inertial guidance computers on board to allow them to avoid obstacles if their controllers reflexes aren't fast enough. Robot weapons are usually only controlled from the remote operator. In our case, I guess I'll rig up my transmitter to send you voice commands, and you can sorta follow along while making all the critical combat decisions in real time on your own. I don't know what would happen if anyone found out that my battle bot was really a fully A.I. robot."

"Would you get disqualified?"

"I don't know," Elvis considered. "I don't think the rules cover such a thing. Nobody thinks it's even possible."

"Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Atom shrugged.

"What about weapons?" Elvis asked. "I suppose with your strength you could just smash your opponents with your fists."

"Easily." Atom laughed. "But I do have a few other tricks."

"Lasers?" Elvis asked.

Atom pointed a digit at a toolbox that was sitting on a table across the room. He fired a digibeam laser at it and burned a small hole in the side of it.

Elvis stared in amazement. He examined the tool chest, feeling the hole with his index finger. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed. "that will do nicely."

"Now watch this!," Atom laughed. He turned his backside toward the wall where a dartboard was hanging and extended the barrels of his two fanny guns and fired a half dozen rounds. "Bull's eye!" he laughed.

"You have machine guns in your butt?", Elvis yelled. "Crazy! That will really mow down the enemy! Anything else?"

"Well there is this," Atom said, as he fired his leg jets and flew through the air. He zoomed upwards and then dived down, smashing though the top of the workbench.

"You can fly!", Elvis gasped. "That would also put you in the drone category, though usually those entries are partnered with a ground based 'bot," Elvis said, scratching his chin. "Anything else?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to use it," Atom said. He pointed his left arm out straight and retracted his hand into the arm to reveal the gapping maw of his surge cannon. "If I fired this I could take out the top of a mountain." he explained.

"You mean you could blow the entire arena away?" Elvis stammered.

"I could," Atom answered. "I am equipped with a particle beam weapon with the output of a small thermonuclear device. It's a weapon for extreme emergencies only. I've just commanded my systems to deactivate it while I'm on your world."

"Good idea," Elvis agreed.

Elvis removed the shell of his unfinished stomper bot from the stand it was hanging on. He picked up a screwdriver and began to remove the inner skeleton framework, leaving only the outer skin. "Here, try this on for size," he told Atom.

Atom first stepped into the bottom part of the robot skin. He had to first retract his feet into his legs as the soles of his boots wouldn't fit though the leggings. He then lowered the upper part over his head, carefully pushing his arms though the sleeves. Elvis then lowered the head over Atom's, it fit like the helmet of a spacesuit.

"You look the part," Elvis nodded. "I think we can get away with this."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Elvis** grinned, "I can't wait to show up Dick Murphy," he laughed. "We'll show him that his tank bot isn't so great!"

"You know," Atom voiced, "This is a bit like cheating. Don't the rules require you to have actually built and programmed your robot entry? I'd be ringer, an impostor."

"Not exactly," Elvis hedged. "You should see some of the entries, they make use of stuff that was purchased, not built, jury rigged to be remote controllable. I've seen battle bots that had actual chain saws, nail drivers, circular saws, even BB guns, mounted on a mobile chassis made from modified large scale RC cars."

"So I'm just an off the shelf robot chassis dressed up to look like a battle bot?" Atom asked.

"I see your point," Elvis said shrugging his shoulders. "But believe me, the contest judges will look the other way, even if they knew. All they care about are the shows ratings. The rules, such as they are, exist only to keep the competitors on a somewhat even basis, at least on paper."

"Fine." Atom replied as he slowly removed the battle bot suit. "But, you'll need to make a few mods here."

"What's wrong?" Elvis asked.

"Well the pants will need two holes cut in the rear to let my guns project through. I can't wear these gloves if I'm going to use my finger tip lasers, you'll have to at least cut the finger tips off of them. And you'll need to make the face plate a bit more transparent."

"Hard to see though?" Elvis asked.

"A bit," Atom replied, but the real problem is they are polarized like one way mirrors."

"You don't like mirrored glasses?" Elvis questioned.

"Well with them this won't work very well," Atom explained as he turned on his eye searchlights full bright.

"Wow!", Elvis laughed. "Guess you forgot to tell me about that one. You planning on blinding the enemy?"

"I've resorted to that before," Atom nodded, handing the battle bot suit to his host.

Elvis placed the robot skins on his work area and started making the modifications. He used a hand held drill to make the openings for Atom's fanny guns, and then carefully removed the visor shield from the helmet. He found a suitable piece of lightly tinted transparent plastic, cut it to size and shape, and inserted it into the helmet in place of the mirrored glass.

Atom examined the modifications and approved. "What's the plan?" he asked.

"I'm going send Dick a challenge by email," he replied. "He's the current entry challenger, anybody who wants to enter a battle bot in the show would have to first go up against his tank bot and survive for at least three minutes of combat."

"That won't be hard," Atom said, "bring it on!"

"OK," Elvis agreed, pressing the final key on his computer to send the email. "Well, it's getting late, and I need to catch a few hours of sleep before sunrise. You OK down here?"

"Sure," Atom replied. "I'll sack out in what's left of the Spindrift, I need to check the ship out and make an inventory of what will be required to fix it. See you tomorrow."

Elvis headed for the door and waved. He turned out the lights as he left, leaving Atom in the dark. The boy robot switched on his eye lamps and flew back to the Spindrift. He entered though the doorway that Elvis had broken into and checked the ship out.

"Doesn't look too bad," Atom thought to himself, as he looked around. He checked the storage area where his personal supplies were loaded. "My reserve energy tanks weren't damaged, thankfully." He opened his chest panel and inserted the refueling hose from one of the energy tanks to top himself off. "I have a feeling I'm going to need this, real soon!"

* * *

 **S** ometime the next morning, Elvis ran down into the basement workshop looking even more excited than the previous evening when he'd first found the Spindrift up in his attic. "I've gotten the reply, Murphy has responded with a formal challenge," he told Atom, reading the email. _"You're on!, I can't wait to finally steamroller your stomper. I called the TV studio, they have an opening this weekend. Bring your 'bot, I'll be there with mine."_ Suddenly Elvis' face turned white. "The weekend?", he panicked, thinking out loud. "We'll have a lot to do to get ready!"

"No problem!", Atom replied, "I'll help."

* * *

 **It** was cramped and uncomfortable inside the locked case, but Atom dealt with it. He was swaddled, sung as a bug in a rug, in the cutout made in the foam lining of the carry case that also contained the robot suit skin, and the fake remote control that he and Elvis had rigged up. Even with the padding, Atom felt every bump in the road with the case strapped to the luggage rack over the rear wheel of the young man's motor scooter.

 **Elvis** parked the scooter, and untied the bungee cords holding the case to the luggage rack. He grabbed the luggage by the handle and ran with it towards the main entrance of the TV studio. Inside the case, Atom was bounced around from the G forces, like he'd been riding a roller coaster at a Six Flags park. Suddenly the darkness disappeared as the lid of the luggage was opened, and he looked Elvis squarely in the face.

"You could have been a bit more careful lugging this case around," Atom complained, "You gave me a bit of a ride there!"

"I'm sorry," Elvis apologized, "I thought I had you well padded there."

"You did," Atom answered, "but if I wasn't a robot, this case would be filled with vomit right now!"

"That bad?" Elvis voiced.

"I guess you don't understand the physics of scale," Atom shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time."

"Fine." Atom answered. "Let's get ready."

Elvis removed the remote control box from the case, while Atom put on the robot skin. He first put on the lower half, pulling it up over his boots like a pair of trousers. He then donned the middle part, which when on like a vest, and finally the helmet.

Elvis powered on the remote transmitter. They'd modified that by adding a jack for a single ear-bud, which Elvis had stuck into his left ear. Atom was able to communicate with the young man via voice, the conversation was two way since Elvis' ear-bud also acted as a microphone via bone conduction. The two joysticks sent messages which Atom could read via a heads up display in the helmet. He'd be able to 'act out' being controlled by the remote, while actually handling the tricky stuff himself.

* * *

" **Mr. Costello!"** a voice called from down the hallway. "Glad you're on time! You're on in five minutes!"

Elvis gave a hand gesture reply towards the man who was waving for him. He picked Atom up and placed him back into the case, and closed the lid. Once again he grabbed the luggage by the handle, a bit less violently this time, and quickly shuffled down the hallway.

Dick Murphy was waiting for him inside, his tank bot was already on the arena floor. "So you didn't chicken out," he laughed. "Meet BoraBora-2" he laughed, pointing at the impressive looking machine on the combat floor.

"You, rebuilt it!" Elvis gasped.

"Sure did!" Murphy smiled. "BoraBora-2 has twice the power of Bora-1. I made it a bit larger so I could conceal all of the weapons inside. You won't know what hits you, till it's too late!"

Elvis swallowed hard.

"So let's see that your stomper, Atlas wasn't it?"

Elvis waked onto the combat floor and placed the carry case on the ground. He snapped the two latches open, and lifted the lid. "Actually, I've renamed him," he replied, reaching inside. He gently picked Atom up and placed him in a seated position on the floor. "Bora-Bora, meet Astro Boy!" Elvis announced.

" ** _Contestants!_** _Move your bots to the starting positions!"_ , the announcement came over the PA system. The announcer then introduced the two robots to the crowd by name, " _In the red square, it's BoraBora, a tank bot that will bore you to death. In the blue square, it's Astro Boy, our first stomper bot. Wish him luck, he'll need it!"_

Dick Murphy placed BoraBora-2 behind the starting line on his side of the arena, while Elvis sat Atom down behind the other side, also behind the white line that ringed the arena.

" _Contestants! Power up your bots and make any final adjustments before combat begins!"_

Dick lifted the rear of BoraBora's chassis and activated its power switch. The tank bot just sat there for a few moments as its internal computer systems booted up and ran their initial diagnostics and initialization sequences. The robot emitted a low hum, and then a slightly louder mechanical squeal as its servos swung from end stop to end stop. The robot lifted itself up off the ground as its body raised itself up, and exposed its tank treads. It then exercised those treads, wiggling back and forth as the motors self aligned. The upper chassis then slowly raised up revealing the bot's cameras. Enclosed in a thick plastic bubble, the twn cameras gave BoraBora 3 dimension vision. Twin microphones hidden below the vision turret provided the bot with stereo hearing. BoraBora then seemed to stretch itself, as the front and rear halves of the main chassis telescoped outwards revealing trap doors underneath which the robot hid its arsenal of weapons.

Meanwhile, Elvis fumbled with the switches on the hand held remote control transmitter. Atom slowly got to his feet, carefully acting out the power up sequence that he and Costello had worked out. Making mechanically choreographed movements, he flexed his arms and legs, like an Olympic athlete doing his warm up exercises. Atom then took a defensive stance, staring out at his opponent, who was nearly twice his height and looked to be many times his weight and mass.

"Be careful Atom!", Elvis whispered into the remote link. "Dick's bot looks twice as deadly as the prototype I saw a month ago. The last one was equipped with a buzz saw and a flame thrower, God knows what else he's added into this latest incarnation!"

"Don't worry," Atom radioed back. "I can handle the flame thrower, providing he doesn't have something exotic in there, like LOX"

" _Contestants! Combat starts in 5 seconds! Good luck!"_

Elvis and Richard took their places behind the bullet proof glass of the arena, leaving their robots in the colored squares on opposite sides of the arena. The lights dimmed and the announcer's voice came over the arena loud speakers. " _Red team ready?"  
_ Dick Murphy pressed the red button in front of him and the area of the arena under BoraBora lite up in a red light.

" _Blue team ready?"_ came the announcement of the speakers. Elvis pressed his push button, lighting the blue area of the arena where Atom was standing.

A large overhead lighted square blinked yellow twice and then turned green and a klaxon indicating the start of the battle. Atom stepped forward slowly, his gaze fixed on BoraBora. The tank bot inched forward slowly, as if daring Atom to make the first attack. Atom stood his ground.  
"Let Bora make the first move," Elvis whispered. "We want him to reveal his secrets first!"

"Right!", Atom replied.

After nearly thirty seconds of a tense standoff, with both battle bots teasing each other by making false starts, BoraBora suddenly charged. The tank offered no offense other than accelerating to ramming speed. Atom wasn't taken off guard, he readied himself to leap out of the way at the last moment. Bora continued to charge, Atom faked a move to the right before suddenly dogging away from Bora's charge with a move to the left.

But Bora seemed to expect that, the left hand trap door on its fore chassis popped open and a chrome steel claw shot out and snapped shut around Atom's neck!

"Yipes! Its got me!" Atom cried out. His fingers grabbed at the claw and he tired to force open the jaws, but the ratchet drive of the device would not budge backwards. Slowly the vise like pincers increased their squeeze around his neck.

"No you don't!" Atom yelled, twisting his body around. The twin barrels of his fanny guns emerged from their hiding places. Atom swing his legs up over his head, bringing his weapons in line. He aimed and fired. The burst of depleted uranium shells blasted into the claw arm at its base, severing it from BoraBora's chassis. With the claws activators deprived of their electrical power and hydraulic pressure, the grip around Atom's neck released itself. Atom freed himself from the vise like grip and hurled the appendage back at the tank bot, jamming it into Bora's right and tank tread drive. His opponent suddenly spun around in circles, partially paralyzed.

"Good work Atom!" Elvis radioed.

The studio audience suddenly started cheering. "Go Go Go Astro Boy!" they shouted.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Dick Murphy** grumbled to himself, "So that was the 'secret weapon' Elvis was adding to the bot, machine guns!" He threw a switch on the remote control, "Well two can play at that game!"

The jammed tank treads on the battle bot flew off the machine as several explosive bolts detonated. From within the lower chassis a replacement running gear was pushed into place and the machine resumed its normal motion. Murphy activated the remote viewing screen on the remote control and observed his warriors view of the arena though the turret mounted cameras.

Atom was almost caught off guard as the tank suddenly repaired itself and turned to face him. "Maybe I should go on the offensive now," he suggested over the radio to Elvis.

"No, let's wait and see what else Dick has up his sleeves," came the reply. "I didn't expect the tank to have replacement parts on board for auto repair. This is going to be more difficult than we planned."

"We'll see," Atom replied.

Suddenly their opponent spun about 360 degrees. The top mounted turret reversed itself to look backwards as the tank swapped ends to resume its attack. Two rear mounted trap doors popped open to reveal a pair of saws, one a chain saw, the other a high speed circular buzz saw. The tank waved it's weapons about and suddenly charged at Atom, intending on catching him between the two sharp cutting blades to slice him up.

Atom dogged one attack run after another, either jumping out of the way, or danced about, quick on his feet. "This would be easier if I flew," he complained.

"Let's keep that tactic in reserve for now," Elvis answered.

Murphy smiled as he worked the controls. He wasn't surprised at the agility of the little stomper bot, but he had a plan to use Astro's defensive tactics to his own advantage. With each attack run he gained a little ground, by carefully changing his approaches he was slowly backing Atom into a corner.

"Look out Atom," Elvis radioed. "He's going to get you trapped!"

Too late, Atom suddenly realized that his back was literally up against a wall and the whirling blades of one of the arena's built in booby traps. The tank bot just about had him cornered, its two whirling razor sharp saws positioned for the coup de grace. "No you don't," Atom yelled. He aimed the index fingers of both hands and simultaneously fired both digi-beam lasers. The first severed a link on the chainsaw blade, which parted from the machine and bounced off the glass wall in front of Dick Murphy's face. The other laser melted the retaining bolt on the buzz saw blade, which then zoomed upwards, impaling itself in the over head message board. Atom laughed and held both fingers up to his face, blowing on them like a gun slinger in the old west would to clear the smoke from his revolvers.

Murphy reacted immediately. Another trap door opened up exposing the maw of a flame thrower.  
"OK, no more Mr. Nice Guy," Dick muttered under his breath, "Now you get melted!"

Inside the tank bot a fuel pump pressurized a mixture of gasoline and nitro. The two volatile fluids mixed in the weapons combustion chamber where they formed a thin vapor as an air pump forced the mixture out of the gun barrel after the ignition spark was fired. Atom didn't have time to get completely out of the line of fire. Elvis lost sight of him as he was totally enclosed in the white hot flame.

"Atom, do you hear me?" Elvis cried into the radio link.

The tank bot quickly used up all of the inflammatory fuel, and the flame thrower shut down. A ball of flame still surrounded Elvis's entry which seemed to be wandering about its attacker, like it was drunk or in incredible pain.

"Burn, Baby, Burn!" Dick laughed as the fire continued to rage around Atom, who was leaving a sooty trail of footprints in his wake as he moved away from the tank bot.

Gradually the fire surrounding Atom grew smaller as what remained of the combustible mixture that had been sprayed on him either evaporated or was consumed by the flames. The robot suit he'd been wearing was now charred and melted.

"Enough of this!" Atom said through clenched teeth.  
He ripped what was left of the helmet off his head, pealed the remains of the vest off, and kicked the leggings aside.  
"No more pretending, now I'm just me!"

Atom turned to face his attacker. He was now minus the robot suit, dressed only in his boots and pants, bare chested. The crowd awed. Dick's lower jaw hung low to the floor. Elvis realized that the radio gear in the suit had been melted, his link with Atom severed. He'd really be faking it now, Atom was totally on his own.

While keeping an eye on the tank bot, Atom sifted through the charred remains of the gear he'd been wearing. He found the radio transceiver that had been hidden inside the helmet, and examined it. It seemed to have survived the extreme heat, and was still working. Atom opened his chest panel and plugged the transceiver into his system.

"Do you hear me, Elvis?", he asked.

"Yes, thank god!" Elvis replied. I thought I'd lost contact with you."

"Well the heads up display is gone, all we have left is the comm link," Atom grumbled. "Now enough of this passive crap, I'm going to finish this monster once and for all!"

"How?" Elvis asked.

"Simple, I'm going to smash it," Atom replied. "I'm going to cheat a bit, I won't fly, but I will make use of some jet power"

Atom held out his right fist and started running toward his opponent. As he got closer his left hand folded back into his arm, as he held it behind him. He shot forward as his left arm jet propelled him towards the tank. He took a running jump and smashed his fist into the left side of the bot, ripping off the tank tread drive. Before Murphy could react, Atom ran around the warrior tank and repeated his attack on its right side, totally immobilizing it.

Murphy was now boiling mad. "It ain't over till it's over," he grumbled. "Guess I'll have to resort to plan X!"  
Murphy threw the remote control down, and removed another one from the metal suitcase that he had brought into the arena with him. He activated the second control unit, and entered a command. Suddenly the two sides of the tank bot to which the tank drive had been attached were blown free of the bot as explosive bolts detonated. Trap doors on the sides of the machine fell open and three arms extended from each side. At the ends of these protrusions engine pods unfolded into an upright position and propeller blades extracted themselves. Several more bolts exploded freeing the upper chassis from the lower as the six engines spun up to speed. The upper half of the tank separated from the lower as a hex copter, and became airborne. Murphy's battle bot, now airborne, started a strafing run as laser blasts hit the arena's metal floor, leaving burn marks. Atom somehow managed to keep out of the way of the attack.

"He's turned his battle bot into an attack drone!" Elvis radioed, with anger in his voice.

"That does it!" Atom replied. "If he wants an aerial dog fight, I'm going to give it to him!"

"You do that!" Elvis answered.

The soles of Atom's red boots opened up and his feet folded back into his legs. The twin nozzles of his leg jets extended outward as he became airborne. The tank bot continued to shower the air beneath it with laser blasts, which Atom flew around as his computer aided vision searched for a weak spot in the tank's armor. He spotted a thin patch of metal dead center between the rows of laser cannons on the under side of the machine. Atom took aim, extended his fists forward and with a blast of jet power he smashed through the machine, and tore though the top. The turret containing the battle bots cameras and electronic brain tore from the machine, and the lithium ion batteries inside the device exploded. The smoking wreck crashed with a thud on the arena floor where it burned leaving nothing but a molten and charred lump of metal.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Richard** Murphy threw his remote control to the floor and repeatedly jumped on in, until he'd flattened it almost to a pancake. Atom stood in front of the smoking remainder of Murphy's flying battle bot, gently prodding it with the tip of his right moon boot, as if testing to see if it was still 'alive'.

Elvis ran into the middle of the arena and quickly snatched Atom up from the floor of the battle area, and cradled him under his left arm. "Keep still Atom," he whispered, "gotta make this look good."

Atom blinked his eyes in an affirmative response. From their left side, the announcer of the Battle-Bot show entered the arena.  
"Congratulations! Astro Boy team," the M.C. said, offering Elvis a handshake. "Looks like you will be going on into the next round, that is if you're game."

"We are!," Elvis replied, but he spotted the grimace on Atom's face.

Dick Murphy finished stuffing the smoldering remains of BoraBora into its travel case. He took a few steps towards Elvis, and hissed, "I want a rematch!"

The show M.C. motioned for Richard to step into the spotlight. "Do you think you can rebuild your robot in time for a future match next week, Mr. Murphy? If so, you stand a very good chance of earning a wild card spot for the semi-finals."

Murphy cast an evil eye in Costello's direction.  
"You managed to beat my prototype," Dick said, "But Its successor will make chopped meat out of your stomper!"

"You're on!", Elvis blurted out, as he carefully placed Atom into his carry container.

"Excellent!", the referee said. "We were hoping the two of you would agree to a rematch!"  
The announcer palmed an envelope into Elvis's hand and motioned for the two teams to leave the arena area. The two contestants then turned their backs on each other and walked towards exits on opposite sides of the arena.

* * *

 **Back** in his workshop, Elvis looked at the contents of the envelope. It contained a bank draft, and a form letter. He scanned the check that had been inside of the envelope. "Wow!, he muttered, "It's for one thousand dollars! And, according to this form letter, if we win through to the finals, the prize will be a hundred and fifty grand!"

"Looks like I'm going to have to smash some more robots," Atom sighed.

"I guess so," Elvis replied. "I really want to beat Murphy again, and maybe even take home the big prize.

"Don't forget your promise," Atom added. "I'm not entering that arena again until you take a good look at my ship."

"Don't worry about that," Elvis said, looking sadly at the Spindrift. "You know, somehow, I don't think this one thousand dollar check is going to be enough dough to fix your spaceship."

"I was kinda afraid of that," Atom sighed, as he opened his chest panel and looked at his power gauges. "Well, It looks like I have enough energy left for a few more fights."

Costello saw the sad look on the boy robot's face. He gently placed his right hand on Atom's shoulder. "Come on buddy, let's get to work on your ride home."

* * *

 **The Spindrift** was still in the corner of the basement workshop, exactly where Elvis had left it after he'd rescued Atom from it. He donned his magnifier head band, switched on its spotlight, and started to examine the outside of the ship.

"The hull doesn't look too bad," Elvis said. "I can weld the obvious cracks, structurally, it should be sound enough to get you back home. I'll need to figure out how to get at the propulsion system so we can repair that."

"I can do any of the work required from the inside," Atom told him. "I have the blueprints for the ship, we can print them out on your computer."

"OK," Elvis said. "but how will you get me the files?"

"Well, if your computer has something like a USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet connection, I can interface myself with it. Computer brain you know," he said pointing to himself.

"Can you do token-ring?" Costello asked, handing Atom the business end of a network cable.

Atom stared at the male connector end for a few minutes and smiled.  
"I'll draw up a schematic for you to make me an adapter. Then I'll have to hack myself a new network driver. Fortunately, Reno showed me how to do stuff like that. Then we'll just plug it in here."  
Atom opened his chest panel and pointed to an internal socket. Elvis moved closer in to look, and nodded.

Several hours later, the last of the ledger sized prints finished coming out of Costello's ink jet plotter. Atom walked across each of the sheets, pointing to various areas while explaining the basics of the ship's star drive. Elvis followed Atom's lecture, but his face had a bit of bewilderment on it.

"I guess I'm just not a rocket scientist, Atom," he sighed.

"That's OK," Atom replied. "if we work together on this we can fix it. I have all the necessary data on the ship, I just don't have the tools or the spare parts. That's where you will come in."

"Sure," Elvis agreed. "If you give me the blueprints, and the materials, I can build anything."

"Then let's get to work!", Atom said. "We'll start by taking part of my ship apart so we can get at the drive assembly and see just what went wrong."

* * *

 **Atom** crawled into the back of the Spindrift with some tools and worked at unbolting the drive assembly from inside the ship. "I think I have the rear assembly loose now, you should be able to remove it," he yelled.

Elvis had the front section of the ship strapped down to the workbench, and had just finished attaching the rear portion to a ratchet winch with a number of heavy canvas straps.  
"OK, I'll try to pull it loose now," he replied.

He started to crank the winch, stopping when the last of the slack had been taken out of the cable. He waited for Atom to emerge from inside the ship.  
"OK, here it goes," he said.

Atom watched as Elvis turned the winch. The ship moaned as the cable tensioned but the drive assembly end remained firmly attached. Atom gently hammered his fists along the ships hull above where he assumed the seam between the two halves of the ship was.

"Maybe the hull was fused in the reentry?" Elvis suggested, "Perhaps if I heat it with my welding torch?"

"Good thought, but I have a better idea," Atom replied. He carefully applied the beam of his finger laser along the hull. "Try the crank now."

Elvis once again applied his muscle to the winch. The hull of the Spindrift again moaned as the harness yanked against the rear of the ship, but this time it moved. Slowly the ship was pulled apart, and the drive assembly became exposed.

"That's good," Atom said. "Now I can disassemble the thrust chamber and assess the damage." He jumped and did a short flight over to Elvis's tool box and rummaged inside. "I'll need to borrow a few more of your tools."  
Elvis nodded.

It took Atom some tens of minutes to remove the necessary access panels. He now had his head inside of the main engine, and was looked around inside.

"How does it look, Atom?", Elvis asked.

"Not all that bad," Atom started to say, but then his voice turned sour. "Oops."

"What's wrong?" Elvis asked.

"I think we can fix the engine," Atom explained. "But getting the fuel I'll need will be a bit of a problem."

"What kind of fuel?" Elvis asked.

"Actually the Spindrift uses specially treated water for the bulk of it's fuel. But we'll also need some trace amounts of trans-Uranium metals."

"Shit!", Costello laughed.

"What's so funny?", Atom asked.

"That asshole Murphy works for a nuclear research lab. He could probably get us what we need!"

"Yeah, that might be an interesting problem," Atom smirked.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Elvis** sat in the back of the raised seating area in the TV studio where the Battle-Bot show was being taped before a live audience. The crowd cheered as the two robot contestants were introduced by the show M.C. over the PA system. " _In the blue square, we have the executioner Tombstone! He'll smash you up and bury you! And in the red square, look out for Voodoo, who'll do-you in!"_

"Tombstone doesn't look like much," Atom said.

Elvis looked down at the boy android sitting in his lap. "Maybe not, but that 'bot has quite the track record."

Tombstone was a big and heavy two wheeled monster. It's body literally looked like a casket balanced on two large, spiked tires. Sticking out one side of it was a large rotating hunk of steel. The weapon accounted for almost half of the robot's mass. The massive steel bar's tips were machined to razor sharp edges, looking like a lawn mower blade on steroids. This whirling battering battering ram was powered by small internal combustion engine that might have been removed from a cross country motor bike.

"You don't want to get hit by the business end of that thing," Costello said grimly. "It hasn't lost a match yet, and there isn't much left of any of its sparing partners. They've all been turned into small piles of scrap metal.

"What about that other one?", Atom asked pointing at the somewhat smaller 'bot on the other side of the arena.

"Voodoo is a new comer," Elvis replied, pointing at the robot sitting in the red corner of the arena. Voodoo had a dozen smaller wheels on its chassis, six on each side. Its weapon of choice was a vertical spinner drum covered with sharp barbed teeth.  
"I think the idea behind its weapon is grind the enemy down to size," Elvis suggested. "If it it can attack Tombstone from the side, maybe chewing up a tire, it might have chance. But if it gets hit by that spinning war axe, lookout, 'cause things will go flying!"

* * *

" **Checking** out the competition?", a voice came from behind and to Elvis's left.  
Costello turned to see Dick Murphy's smiling face.

"Hi Dick," Elvis answered, making a hand gesture toward Atom to keep still and quiet. "Hope you're not still mad at me over our encounter here last week."

Dick smiled. "Nah, we're still friends," he chuckled, and then pointed to Atom who was sitting in Elvis's lap. "You showing your bot what it's going to be up against?"

"Just mentally sizing him up against what's out there," Elvis spat out. He gently lifted Atom from his lap, and sat him down on the seat to his right. Murphy moved up a row and took the seat on Elvis's left. "Give a good gander at Tombstone," Dick said, "We both don't stand a chance against that brute, especially you. Me, I'm going to need to put some more armer on BoraBora."

The countdown lights blinked yellow twice, then green, and the arena lights came on full. The two robots advanced to the center of the arena, and circled about each other. Voodoo made a quick charge, attempting to take a bite of Tombstones starboard tire, but the two wheeled monster whirled about and brought its swinging steel club to bear. Whirling at over 200 mph, the spinning blade struck Voodoo and sent the robot flying. The twelve wheeled robot smashed into the protective bullet proof glass wall of the arena, and bounced back, with several bits and pieces missing. Tombstone charged and attacked for a second time. Two tires flew off of Voodoo, which now had a deep slice in its port side. Smoke began to pour out of the over matched warrior, and then the thing exploded as its lithium Ion batteries caught fire. The match didn't even last a half a minute.

"OMG!", Elvis gasped.

"Told ya!", Murphy laughed. "Of course, Bora weighs at least twice as much as that pip-squeak," He added, pointing at the pile of parts that used to be the Voodoo bot.  
"If your Astro-Boy got in Tombstone's way, he'd be shredded.

"Would not!", Atom hissed barely loud enough for only Elvis to hear.

"Well, I've got to go," Dick said, getting up from his seat. "Good luck!"

"I though we were going to need Murphy's help to get the elements needed to fix my ship," Atom said, poking Elvis in the shin. "Aren't you going to talk to him?"

"Yeah, but I've been trying to figure out how to approach him on that," Costello sighed. He jumped to his feet and started to follow Murphy. Atom flew upwards and landed on Elvis's shoulder and held on to his shirt while is friend hurried to catch up with Richard.

"There's something I need to talk to you about, Dick," Elvis spat out, adding, "In private."

Murphy turned to face his robot building rival, and was a bit taken back at the sight of Atom staring at him, crossing his arms across his chest. He almost fainted when the boy robot said, "I need your help."

* * *

 **Dick Murphy** rummaged through the pile of junk on Elvis's work bench. He sighed as he examined the various bits of failed robots.  
"I knew you couldn't build the thing that took BoraBora2 apart in the arena," he said. "Where the hell did YOU come from?", Dick added, poking Atom in the chest with his index finger. "I've never seen a real A.I. robot like you before!"

"I came from another planet called Earth in that," Atom said, pointing at the wreckage of the Spindrift.  
"Elvis promised to help me repair it so I can return home, and I agreed to be his battlebot so he could raise the needed cash to buy whatever was required."

Murphy carefully ran his fingers over the scorched hull of the spaceship. "You came from a planet of midgets?", he asked.

"Or I landed on a planet of giants," Atom responded.

"Touche!" Dick laughed. "I guess size is relative." Murphy stared at Atom before speaking again. "Just how strong are you, Astro-boy?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?", Elvis asked.

"Because I'm much impressed at how he destroyed my robot, and I'm wondering if he's robot enough to survive an encounter with Tombstone," Murphy replied.

"If I hold nothing back, I'll take Tombstone apart in seconds," Atom grinned. "I've got 100,000 horse power!"

Elvis quickly translated the Earth power measurement into units that his friend could understand.

Murphy whistled, scratched his head, and then looked at Elvis and Atom. "Let me guess, Elvis. You probably want me to help you acquire some rare element from the lab where I work. Something beyond element number 92 in the periodic table would be my guess."

"Element number 99, actually," Atom answered, "What we call Einsteinium on Earth. We only need a trace amount of it, though."

"Well that's going to cost you," Murphy said, rubbing his hands together. "I've got it all figured out."

"Meaning?" Astro quavered.

"You're going to lose to BoraBora when we get to the finals. But not until you destroy some of my worst opponents along the way.

"You want me to throw the competition?", Astro voiced.

"Let's not call it that," Dick returned. "Let's just say we are going to choreograph the performance, kinda like the way they do it in pro wrestling. Elvis, you had your day in the sun, and you and Astro here will be famous for destroying Tombstone, but I'm going to win that giant nut prize."

"Very well," Elvis sighed. "As Atom pointed out to me, we were sorta cheating anyway, with him being a 'ringer' and all."

"Exactly," Murphy smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter** **8**

 **The** lights in the Battle Bots arena dimmed as the combatants were placed in their starting squares. Atom had his first match of this series two weeks ago when the field of contestants had already been whittled down to sixteen robots. Since he'd already defeated Murphy's Bora-Bora-2 previously, Atom hadn't been required to fight in the earlier qualifying rounds that had involved another field of sixteen would be Battle-Bots, though he did have one match against a wild card entry.

As Murphy had predicted, the heavily armored and deadly Tombstone had destroyed his first two challengers in seconds, both of them seasoned combatants from the previous season. Atom had been pitted against two first time robots, their tyro drivers behind the bullet proof glass walls of the arena nervously holding onto their remote controls. Elvis continued his charade with the dummy remote containing only a communications radio, Atom making all of the combat decisions on his own, while listening to Costello's suggestions for showmanship. Those matches had been easy for Atom, requiring him to use only his fists to take his opponents out of action.

Now with only eight robots left, tonight's show would have four battles, the winners would come back in a week to square off, hopefully twice, and one lucky 'bot would survive to be the winner. As Murphy had hoped, Atom and Costello had drawn the short straw for the showdown against Tombstone. That event would be the last contest of the evening, the show producers saving the main attraction for the finale.

The first two match ups had been violent enough, the cleaning crews barely having enough time to pick up all the scrap metal from the first fight between "Battery Acid" and "Rat Fink", during the time alloted for a commercial break. The second fight, between robots named "Raging Bull" and "Neutron Bomb", ended in a spectacular fashion, with the batteries of both robots catching fire and exploding after they both rammed each other at high speed. The winner had been decided by a split decision of the judges. Elvis commented to Atom that he doubted that the winner would be patched up in time to compete in next weeks show, and that one of the losers in another fight might be substituted as a wild card.

Now the third event of the evening was almost under way. This one between Murphy's Bora-Bora-3, and an other impressive tank-bot named 'Critical Mass'. Atom hadn't yet seen Dick's rebuilt 'bot, Bora-Bora had competed on alternate nights from Atom. He and Elvis had worked on the Spindrift, only hearing the sound track from the TV while they were repairing the spacecraft.

The arena lights came on, and the spotlight fell on Murphy's robot. Bora-Bora now featured multiple tank tracks, and an articulated chassis. It suddenly reared up on the back treads, transforming itself into a walker like machine. Critical Mass charged and revealed its weapon systems, which included a high speed water jet cutter. Murphy's opponent managed to slice off a part of Bora-Bora's lower chassis, but the transformer bot simply returned to its low profile form and opened up its own weapons bay. Bora released a flying saw blade, which flew like a deadly Frisbee at Critical Mass. Its aim was perfect, and the water jet cutter was neatly sliced off.

Now Bora-Bora extended a large auger bit and rammed at its victim. Critical Mass tried to side step the revolving lance, but Bora was too fast. Murphy drilled a deep hole into his opponent, and managed to hit pay dirt. The lithium ion batteries inside of Critical Mass shorted out and caught fire. Luckily for Bora, he was able to pull out and back up to avoid the flames. Within seconds his challenger became a molten pile of aluminum.

Murphy retrieved his robot from the arena, while Elvis carried Atom inside. "OK, Atom," Dick grinned, "Now it's your turn in the box. Take care of Tombstone for me, I don't want Bora to have to face him next week."

"Don't worry about me," Atom replied. "Just remember that tomorrow you're going to sneak me inside of your laboratory so I can get some of that Einsteinium."

* * *

 **Elvis** took his place behind the glass shield. Atom was now standing in the blue square. He was wearing the same costume he'd worn in his last two appearances in the arena, a cosplay as the avenger, IronMan. That had been his own idea, when Elvis suggested that he needed to wear something to make him look more menacing. Atom at once thought of his buddy Reno back home, and the Iron Man exoskeleton suit that he'd built.

The array of floodlights above the arena flashed yellow twice, and then green once., then the stage lights came on full. Tombstone had already spun up its massive whirling sledgehammer blade and was charging at him. Like a graceful matador, Atom stepped aside the charging bull at the last instant. Tombstone made a 180 degree turn and came right back at him.

Once again, Atom stepped aside of the whirling blade before it could hit him. Behind the glass, Tombstone's driver was analyzing the boy robot's every move, shifting his eyes between Atom, Tombstone, and Elvis Costello standing on the other end of the glass wall.

"Careful, Atom!", Elvis's worried voice came over the radio intercom. "Don't play with him, just end it!"

"Don't worry," Atom returned. "I think I have it figured out."

Once again, the two wheeled menace charged at Atom. Once again, the boy robot prepared to step aside of the spinning mass wielded by Tombstone, but at the last second the charging bull turned exactly as Atom did. Luckily, Atom's computer reflexes were fast enough to notice the danger. Not being able to jump aside in time, Atom fell to the floor and grabbed the whirling hammer with both hands. The kinetic energy in Tombstone's weapon should have thrown Atom across the arena, for the machine out weighed him by more than two to one. But Atom quickly fired his legs jet engines and counter acted the force. It was like holding a tiger by the tail, but the boy robot regained control of the situation. He flung his opponent across the arena, Tombstone landed in the arena screws, and bounced under that pulverizer, the booby trap hammer, which pounded on it and dented its rear chassis.

Tombstone's driver repeatedly activated the controls on his remote control, but his warrior wasn't able to move. Atom' had thrown the heavy battle-bot across the arena so hard that when it landed its wheel axle had bent. Tombstone was now only able to wobble in a tight circle.

Atom looked across the arena and tapped his left boot while whistling. He knew the rules, if his opponent couldn't move for fifteen seconds, the match would be called, giving him the victory.

* * *

" **Why** didn't you smash him?", Dick Murphy demanded.

"Because I didn't have to," Atom replied curtly. "I did what I had to, I disabled Tombstone. He's lost his spot and isn't going to advance to the finals. You won't have to face him."

* * *

 **Atom** blinked as the large attache case was opened. He climbed out and looked around him. He was standing on a computer desk inside of a small office. Richard Murphy was standing, looking down at him. "OK, we're here." Dick said.

"So where is the stuff?" Atom asked.

"As I told you, I don't have access to the radio active store room, but I can get you inside. You'll have to avoid the security cameras, but that shouldn't be a problem since they're not set up to detect someone your size." Murphy unfolded a piece of paper and laid it on the desk. "This is the layout of the store room. What you want is stored inside of a locked cabinet over here," Murphy pointed.

"My access card won't open the door, but there is a pass though panel in the door that allows material previously placed in a hopper to be retrieved from outside, or to be returned later. That way a technician can arrange for sample access without being allowed into the store room. You should be able to fit though that panel."

"Right, now how do I get there unnoticed?" Atom asked.

"It's after normal working hours right now," Murphy answered. "Only the hardcore computer geeks are still around, the nuke labs are empty." He put on a lab coat and opened the right pocket. "Just get inside."

Atom climbed into the pocket of the lab coat and crouched down. Murphy walked down the hallway towards the materials store room.

"Won't someone know you've been here and figure things out if the inventory comes up short?", Atom asked.

"Probably not," Murphy whispered. "For one thing, this isn't MY lab coat, I borrowed it from the laundry room this morning. It's a spare, used when someone's assigned coat gets contaminated. Also I won't be here while you burgle the place."

Richard removed the coat and hung it on a hook rack a few feet from the store room. "I'll see you later, Atom. You're on your own now."

Atom carefully popped his head out from the lab coat pocket and looked around. The hallway lighting was subdued and the place was quiet. All of the office cubicles were empty, and most of the desk top computers were either off, or their monitors gone to screen saver mode. Murphy was right, the place deserted, everyone with a life had gone home.

He looked up and saw the door that was labeled "Radio Active Material Storeroom". Sure enough, the door had a large sliding panel at human eye level. Atom looked around for any security cameras. He spotted two, one on either side of the storeroom, but they were aimed away from the door. Atom flew out of the pocket and hovered in front of the door panel. He grabbed hold of the handle and pushed it to one side. It slid with some effort, but he got it open enough to gain entry, and then closed the panel behind him.

He was now inside of a large box, filled with glass vials. Atom stood on the lid of one of these, and carefully pushed the lid of the box open. The storeroom was dark. He turned on his eye searchlights at a low infrared setting and looked around. There was a security camera on the wall, mounted on a motorized swivel. The camera was aimed at a human eye level, Atom jumped from his perch and lit on the floor. Now below the camera's line of sight, he made his way towards the locked cabinet. It was a floor safe, on casters. A human would have to stoop low to work the combination lock, Atom was able to just reach the dial.

"Now what do I do?", he wondered, "Murphy didn't know the combination."

Atom turned his hearing up to 1000x normal and slowly turned the dial. With his hearing cranked all the way up, he could hear the lock tumblers fall into place. He grabbed the unlocking handle and pulled it. The door slid open. "Well, I guess I could make a good safe cracker!" Atom laughed.

The inside of the storage locker had several bins, each labeled by a number. There was a lead lined box, numbered '99'. "Found it!" Atom whispered. He opened the container which was filled with lumps of a soft, silvery, slightly magnetic metal. Atom's vision sparked from the alpha particles being emitted by the element. He opened his chest hatch and felt inside for the lead canister that he'd brought with him from the Spindrift. He grabbed several hand fulls of stuff and carefully packed it into the canister, and then set that back into his chest cavity.

Atom then set everything inside the locker back the way he'd found it. He crawled out, and relocked the safe door. The next trick was to make his getaway. Once outside the doorway to the storeroom, he kept against the wall and made his way back to Murphy's office. Sure enough, the room was dark, and Dick was gone, the attache case missing from the desk. The window was open, and a note, weighed down with a rock sat on the sill. " _See you back at Elvis's place_ ," was all the note said, though there was also a rough hand drawn map showing a street route. Atom flew out the window and followed the route that he'd quickly committed to memory. It took him less than ten minutes to find his way back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Atom** entered Elvis's house by flying down the chimney and came through the fireplace. He found Costello in the basement workshop, along with Dick Murphy.

"You left Atom alone in the nuclear lab?", Elvis steamed. "What if he'd been caught?"

"I thought the odds of that happening were rather low," Murphy replied. "I believed it would be safer if I wasn't in the building while he acquired what he needed."

"Always looking out for yourself?," Elvis yelled back.

"Sure, why not?", Dick replied.

"Don't worry about me, I'm OK," Atom said, as he landed on the workbench. He opened his chest panel and removed a lead lined container. "I got what I needed."

"You do realize that that sample might not be pure," Dick said. "I don't think the isotope that we had in the store was the type with the longest half life."

"That shouldn't matter," Atom replied. "The engines on the Spindrift only need a trace amount of Einsteinium to function. Even if this stuff has a half life of only a few weeks, it should get me home."

"Just remember that you're not leaving till you get defeated by Bora-Bora, and I win the grand prize," Murphy said. "We had a deal."

"Sure," Atom said. "We'll even choreograph the fight anyway you want."

"Good!" Murphy said. "Well, I've got to get going, see the two of you next week at the TV studio for our final battle."

Murphy walked out, and as soon as Elvis heard the door upstairs close, he groaned. "Murphy and I have been friends since college, but sometimes I wonder why."

"What do you mean?" Atom asked.

"Well the guy can be a real dick head at times," Costello explained. "He should have at least waited for you outside of the lab."

"No, it was OK, really!" Atom countered. "I had every thing under control, and he showed me exactly where to find what I needed."

"Yeah, I guess," Elvis shrugged. "Well let's get your ship fixed!"

The two of them spent all night working on the Spindrift. Atom carefully lined the engine reaction chamber with a paste that he made from the small amount of Einsteinium metal. When he was sure that there wasn't any radioactive leak, he yelled for Elvis to come back downstairs.

"All safe now?" Costello asked.

"Perfectly." Atom said. Once you help me weld the ships outer structure It will be good to go, at least once we get it fueled.

"Specially treated water?" Elvis asked.

"Heavy water, actually." Atom said. "Murphy did promise me some of that too."

"How much do you need?", Elvis asked.

"Enough to fill one of your drinking glasses." Atom said.

"Hopefully that won't be a problem. Especially once you make Dick the Battle Bot champ."

* * *

 **Murphy** didn't look to happy. He grabbed Elvis by his collar and yanked him over to an empty corner of the studio. "I told you you should have smashed Tombstone!", he growled at Atom.

"What's going on?" Elvis asked.

"You remember last week when Neutron Bomb won over Raging Bull in a split decision?" Well Bora-Bora was supposed to go up against the Bomb tonight, but it seems that bot was too badly damaged to compete, it couldn't be repaired. And there weren't enough pieces of Raging Bull to put back together either. So guess what they did?"

"Tell me?", Costello asked.

"They gave Tombstone a wild card, and his team was able to get him ready in time. Now Bora has to survive against that. I'm done for!", Murphy sobbed.

"That's not right." Costello said. "If that 'Bomb' robot couldn't be repaired, then it should loose by default, and you should be given a free pass."

"You'd think so," Murphy said, "But apparently that would be bad for the shows ratings."

"Maybe there's something we could do," Elvis smirked.

"Like what?", Murphy asked.

"Maybe a little sabotage?" Elvis asked, looking Atom in the eye.

"What?" Atom asked.

"You could sneak over to where Tombstone is waiting just before the battle with Bora-Bora. Use your lasers on it to weaken a critical part, like the chain that drives its weapon."

"That's cheating!" Atom said.

"Maybe," Dick said slyly. "But it's only fair, since by rights I shouldn't have to face Tombstone. He lost to Atom and shouldn't be allowed a second chance just because two other contestants destroyed each other."

"I guess so," Atom voiced. "I don't like the idea, but I'll do it."

* * *

 **Atom** stood in the red square and looked across the arena at the robot on the other side in the blue.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen!_ ", the announcer cried out. "T _onight we will be crowning the battle-bot champ. But first, the final elimination rounds. In the red corner, make a big welcome for_ _our super hero_ _Astro Boy!_ _And in the blue square,_ _looking like something from outer space, it's Alien!_ _"_

Once again, the arena lights dimmed, flashed yellow twice, and green once. They then came on full bright, and the battle started.

Atom wasn't in the mood for a long drawn out battle. This time he wanted to go on the offensive quickly. Alien was a smaller robot, that had surprised everyone else in the competition. It was a sinister black robot that ran of three wheels hidden in its undercarriage. Round in shape, like a flying saucer, Alien's weapon was a pair of counter rotating buzz saws that spun about at high speed.

As soon as the starting signal had sounded, Alien's whirling blades were already a blur. Atom was already in the center of the arena looking for a weak spot in his opponent, who was now running circles around him. Suddenly, Alien spit into two as the top of the 'UFO' lifted off as a drone. The flying part of the UFO had four 'copter blades that had extended out on arms that had popped out of hidden trap doors. The main bot continued circling around Atom, looking for the moment when it could charge in to cut him in half with its saw.

Atom shifted his view back an forth between the two parts of Alien. The drone 'bot started swooping down as it tried to knock Atom off his feet. Between the buzz saws of the larger section, and the kamikaze actions of the drone, Atom now found himself on the defensive.

Suddenly the drone changed course and zoomed towards Atom, just as the buzz saws of the UFO charged him. He fell over and rolled away from the cutting blades just in the nick of time. "That's enough!" Atom yelled, now mad. He rolled over to again avoid the UFO, and pointed his buttocks skyward. His twin machine guns popped out of his hips, and shot down the drone.

Atom smiled at the burning wreckage of the drone, but once again had to dodge the attack of the saws. Right behind him the arena's pulverizer hammer smacked the ground, barely missing him, as the UFO charged. There was no way to get out of the way except, up! Atom's leg jets took him upwards out of the path of the spinning death. He dived down, fists extended, and smashed into Alien, sending it spinning sideways into the rotating screws at the back of the arena. Alien bounced backwards, landing behind the booby traps. There was no way it could return itself into the combat arena, and the judges counted it down and out.

As the remains of Alien were removed from the arena, the contestants for the next round were being brought in. Murphy was setting Bora-Bora3 up in the red square, while Tombstone was being readied in the blue. Atom took careful aim and fired one quick pulse of his right hand finger tip laser in the direction of Murphy's opponent, and then waited for Elvis to scoop him up and carry him out of the ring.

"Did you do it?" Costello asked.

"Yup." Atom voiced. "I don't think that drive chain will even last a minute."

"Good," Elvis sighed. "If Murphy can keep out Bora-Bora3 out of Tombstones way long enough, he'll have a chance."

* * *

 **Nervously,** Richard worked on setting up Bora-Bora3 for the battle. He glanced across the arena at Tombstones pit crew, hoping they wouldn't notice Atom's act of sabotage. Finally, the men wearing the Tombstone logo T shirts headed towards the safety zone behind the glass wall. Murphy adjusted the last of the settings on his 'bot and removed the voltmeter he'd been using to check the power supply. He walked off the arena floor, and took his place behind the glass wall.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen!",_ the announcer began his intro, " _Back as a wild card due to the unavailability of Neutron Bomb is Tombstone! Will the hastily repaired monster survive against the powerful Bora-Bora3? Let the battle begin!"_

" _Well at least they gave me a nice intro,"_ Dick thought as he switched on his remote control. The arena lights dimmed, and the floods flashed yellow twice, then green once. He advanced Bora-Bora3 into the center of the arena as Tombstone spun up its massive blade.

Murphy left Bora in the crouched down position to present the large steel shield he'd bolted in place at the last minute. Hopefully, this large chunk of metal would absorb any hit from Tombstones prime weapon. At the other end of his 'bot, he extended the drill bit and lined up to charge at Tombstone's side, hoping to puncture its battery.

Tombstone charged at him, and Murphy had to abort his attack run and swing 'round to expose his shield. Bora took a massive hit from the swinging blade and was thrown across the arena. The shield took most of the impact, but was torn off, landing several meters away. Murphy quickly righted the 'bot and moved it around, testing the controls. Nothing seemed to be too badly damaged. On the other hand, despite the force of their contact, the chain drive on Tombstone's weapon seemed to be intact. " _Damn you Atom, I thought you took care of him!,"_ Dick muttered under his breath.

Tombstone did seem to be moving a bit awkwardly though, like something was out of balance. In fact, it had slowed down enough for him to line up the auger bit and charge. Bora-Bora3 drove the rotating lance into the side of Tombstone, penetrating at least a few centimeters through the starboard side of its chassis. He quickly backed away, and waited. Nothing much happened, he must have missed any vital area. Now his opponent turned to slam him with the whirling battering ram. Bora now lacked the shield to protect itself. As Tombstone advanced, it spun up the blade to warp speed and the sudden inertia snapped the chain link that had been weakened by Atom's laser. As the drive chain broke free, it flew across the arena and hit the glass wall in front of the judges. The blade was still turning when it hit Bora, leaving a large gash in the bot's side. Nervously, Murphy worked the remote, Bora was still controllable, but a little sluggish.

Tombstone backed away, its best feature now limp and silent. Murphy hit the transform button and Bora took its upright form. He launched the flying blade, which scored a direct hit on Tombstone's port side tire. With the saw blade stuck in its wheel, his enemy was now unable to move. The judges counted it down, and ended the contest.

* * *

 **They** were now backstage, in an area set aside for them as a workshop. Here the contestants were given twenty minutes to prepare their 'bots for the final showdown, while a trio of battle-bots staged a free-for-all demolition derby for the crowd.

"How does Bora look?", Elvis asked. "Can you get it ready for the final match with Atom?"

"I don't know," Murphy sighed. "Those two hits from Tombstone caused a lot of internal damage. Most of that I have spare parts for, but the frame was badly bent and cracked. I don't have a welding rig with me, and without that I don't think Bora will hold together long enough to put on a believable performance. If Atom had sabotaged that drive chain better, I might have a chance."

"If I had damaged that chain more the Tombstone pit crew would have spotted it and replaced the chain before the fight," Atom protested.

"Atom's right," Elvis agreed.

"I suppose so," Dick sighed, as he worked on Bora-Bora, replacing a power controller circuit.

Atom walked over towards Bora and inspected the damage. "Where does it need to be welded?" he asked.

"This large crack in the frame is the worst of it," Murphy said. "Stupid me, I actually have a welding rod in my toolbox, but I left the arc-welder at home."

Atom picked up the welding rod and placed it against the robot's frame. He then used his finger tip laser to heat up the metal, and melted a perfect bead across the crack. Murphy watched, his jaw dropped in amazement. When Atom was finished, he picked up a magnifier and closely examined the repair.

"That's a perfect weld!", he gasped. "I couldn't have done better with my expensive equipment back home!"

"No problem." Atom smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

" **Ladies** and Gentlemen!", the announcer's voice boomed. " _It is now time to determine this season's Battle Bot champion! In the Blue corner, the amazing Astro Boy! Will he be buried by the destructive power of Bora-Bora 3 in the Red corner? Let the battle begin!_ "

The ground crew had just swept away the remains of the previous event, a rather destructive three way demolition derby that had ended with no winer, and three losers. In the red square, Murphy made the final adjustments on Bora-Bora3. Back in the pit area, he'd already taken a file to the cutting edges of the robot's auger drill, to dull them, and and reduced the launching speed and spin of Bora's saw Frisbee. As he and Elvis has agreed, Bora-Bora would be pulling his punches slightly, while Atom would be doing some convincing acting.

Atom was sitting in the blue corner where Costello went through the motions of getting him ready. "Make it look good, but don't get hurt," he said.

"No problem there," Atom nodded.

Richard and Elvis made their way back to their positions behind the glass walls of the arena, and the lights went though their patterns. The final battle was now underway.

Atom walked slowly into the center of the arena, as Bora-Bora3 rose up on its rear tracks. The transformer 'bot moved slowly towards Atom, who didn't yet take an aggressive posture. Suddenly, Murphy had his robot extend a small chain saw which Bora brandished at his opponent. Atom side stepped each of Bora's anemic attacks. For several more moments the two of them merely played with each other.

Finally Bora-Bora lunged into a real charge, brandishing its auger bit. Atom moved out of the way, but Bora managed to scrape him with the edge of the rotating lance. The dulled edge of the weapon did no damage to the boy robot, but the attack looked convincing to the audience as Atom hit the floor, rolled over, and slowly got up. He balled his fists and charged back at Murphy's 'bot, landing one good punch that knocked Bora-Bora sideways.

Murphy regained control of his charge and used Bora's built in camera to take aim at Atom's mid section. He had Bora fire his Frisbee saw, which flew towards its foe.

Atom saw the spinning projectile heading towards him, and started to step out of its way. His movement's were sluggish however, and he had to try and deflect the spinning disk with his hands. It hit him in the midsection, right across his green belt, and knocked him backwards. Atom went flying into the spinning screws at the back of the arena, and then bounded into the path of the pulverizer hammer. He managed to grasp hold of that and roll out of its way.

Atom slowly got to his feet, but his vision blurred and he felt faint. He collapsed onto the floor of the arena as the world spun about him.

Murphy advanced Bora towards the boy robot, but stopped it just short of where Atom lay. The judges announced a count down, and waited the 15 seconds before declaring the match over.

* * *

 **Elvis** scooped Atom up, and cradled him in his arms. He couldn't even feel a flinch of movement from Atom's body, and he was worried. He carried Atom back stage, while Murphy was accepting the 'Giant Nut' trophy, along with congratulations and accolades for his victory.

Several minutes later, Dick returned to where Costello was waiting for him. "Look what you did to him!" Elvis glared, "I thought you were pulling Bora's punches!"

"I did!" Murphy barked back. "The saw disk's teeth were dulled, and it was flung at less than a quarter velocity!"

"I'm OK," Atom whispered, barely able to raise his head. "It's my fault, I forgot to recharge myself and I ran low on energy!"

Elvis looked in the metal case that he used to transport Atom into the arena with. There was a small cylinder lying in the bottom of it. He picked it up and handed it to Atom. He then opened the boy robot's chest panel, and helped him insert the canister into its socket. Several minutes later the color came back to Atom's face and he was able to sit up. "Well that was certainly one way to make the loss look convincing," Elvis laughed.

Murphy opened up the wheeled crate that he'd transported his robot in. He carefully packed Bora-Bora into it, and then removed a small plastic bottle containing a clear fluid. "This is for you, Atom," he said.

Elvis took the bottle and held it in front of Atom. "Heavy water?" Atom asked.

"That's what you said you needed as fuel for your ship, wasn't it?" Murphy nodded.

"Yes, thank you!" Atom smiled.

* * *

 **Elvis** and Dick groaned as they lugged the spaceship up the basement stairs. The Spindrift barely fit through the staircase, and they had to turn it sideways to get it through the door. Elvis slide the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard open and they dragged the craft outside and sit it down on the freshly mowed grass.

"Well, I guess this is it," Elvis said. "Time for you to go back home."

"I guess so," Atom said. "Thank's for your help!"

"Thank you for being my battle-bot," Elvis returned. "The second place prize money should be enough to buy enough parts to try and build a real one."

"That would be a waste of money," Murphy said. "You really aren't very good at this."

Costello's face showed a momentary display of anger, and then he burst into a fit of laughter. "You're probably right, Dick," he smiled. "I guess I'll use the money to help pay down my student loan debt, and look for another less expensive hobby."

"I should probably do the same thing," Dick said, slapping Elvis on the shoulder. "By the way, I did get a phone call from some robotics company that wanted to interview me for a job. They must have watched the TV show and were impressed with Bora-Bora."

"Don't worry," Elvis said, "I won't tell them you're a fake."

"You won't have to," Murphy returned, "I turned down the offer."

While the two guys were talking, Atom pumped the heavy water into the Spindrift's tank. He entered the ship and started to pre-flight it. The engines powered up and the system indicators were all in the green area. Setting all of the controls back to the idle levels, he exited the cockpit and stood in the ships hatchway.

"Time for me to say goodbye," Atom yelled.

Murphy and Costello each stooped down to shake Atom's hand.

"I hope you make it home OK," Elvis said, tears in his eyes.

"Good luck, champ!," Richard added.

"You guys better stand back during my liftoff, just in case," Atom warned them.

After a few more hand shakes and hugs, Atom closed the hatch and strapped himself into the pilot's seat. He used the ship's cameras to verify that his friends had moved clear of the ship, and began his countdown. Slowly the Spindrift lifted off the ground and headed skyward. When he was clear of the all of the buildings, Atom pushed the throttle forward and broke through the sound barrier. Gradually the color of the sky darkened, and the stars became visible. Soon the ship was in orbit, and Atom did another system's check. The computer had a lock on where it believed the Earth was located, and the return course was set.

Once again he felt the forces of gravity increase as the ship approached the same black hole that had flung him towards the giant's planet. This time however, his course was under his control, and he grazed the event horizon far enough from the dead star to sling shot him back home.

* * *

 **Professor** Ochanomizu looked up as Atom entered his office. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "You've only been back for two days, I told you to relax at home with your siblings for at least a week. That was some ordeal you've been though."

"I'm sorry Hakase," Atom replied. "I just had to get away from Uran and Cobalt. They were going to the robotting arena to watch the finals, and wanted to drag me along. I told them I've had enough of robot sport to last me a lifetime, but they wouldn't listen!"

The professor face-palmed and laughed.

 _The End_


End file.
